This is a presentation Sequoia Capital gave to all the CEOs of the companies it funds.

What gets me is that this is exactly the same thing they were saying in 2001/2. If this message ever changed from "control costs and get profitable immediately" to "you can use venture capital to build an idea into a business over time" I never got the memo. Clearly the later sort of company has recently appeared on the scene, but just recently, and with a lot of skepticism from those of us who have been around the way. But I guess thats over now. Back to the same old message of "if you actually need venture capital you're not the sort of company investors are looking to fund."

I really think innovation should be less tied to the business cycle...

Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn

If you work in the tech industry you could do worse than to read the testimony at this hearing. I think the advisors did a good job of starting to think beyond the "please reduce our labor and R&D costs" bullshit the tech industry usually presents in the guise of improving our technological competitiveness.

Congressional Hearing :: The Globalization of R&D and Innovation

My current job is CEO of Odeo, Inc., a startup based in San Francisco, where I've lived since 1998. Previously, I was co-founder and CEO of Pyra Labs, makers of Blogger, now part of Google, where I worked most of 2003-04.

evhead: Ten Rules for Web Startups

] Researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago have
] confirmed what many high-tech workers have long
] suspected: The job market for technology experts remains
] bleak, years after the U.S. recession officially ended in
] late 2001.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Report: High-tech job market has lost more than 400,000 jobs

] The number of employed software engineers in the U.S.
] dropped from 856,000 in the first quarter of 2004 to
] 725,000 in the second quarter. (of 2004)

IEEE's numbers seems to conflict with the fed's numbers.

ITworld.com - High-tech employment numbers drop in second quarter

] An analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows nearly
] 160,000 IT jobs have disappeared in the past three years,
] while the IT unemployment rate has nearly doubled since
] 2000.
]
] The biggest IT job category--computer software engineers--grew
] to 816,000, up from 757,000 in 2000, a nearly 8% increase. (from 2000 to 2004)

InformationWeek - IT Jobs Continue To Disappear

] The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday sided with
] Silicon Valley over Wall Street, voting overwhelmingly to
] largely preserve the current method of accounting for the
] cost of stock options.

Yeah!!

House says no to expensing options | CNET News.com

] Morale among IT workers has dipped to an all-time low,
] even though demand for certain skills is rising,
] according to a new study from Meta Group.

IT morale drops to all-time low | CNET News.com

] I was just out in Silicon Valley, checking in with
] high-tech entrepreneurs about the state of their
] business. I wouldn't say they were universally gloomy,
] but I did detect something I hadn't detected before: a
] real undertow of concern that America is losing its
] competitive edge vis-à-vis China, India, Japan and other
] Asian tigers.

NYT: Losing Our Edge?

] "Sorry, guys. The pro-expense 'em forces do not care
] about helping investors; they care about discouraging stock options.
]
] "In the modern corporation, intangible assets now
] constitute 70% or so of the value of the company, a shift
] from 25 years ago, when 75% of the value was in tangible
] assets. By using options, companies make the creators of
] these intangible assets into owners, and venture
] capitalists make the creative classes into partners. Options
] are a complicated, but quite creative, solution to a number of
] difficult problems in the valuation of intellect-based assets.
]
] "The idea of making the creative classes into owners is
] not welcomed by old line capitalists, organized labor, public
] employees, and other power centers. Hence the fight to discourage
] options.

[Politech] Jim Delong's dissenting view on stock options expensing